Halloween Harry (1993): The Jetpack Shooter That Became Alien Carnage
A Jetpack, a Flamethrower, and an Alien Zombie Infestation A jetpack, a flamethrower, and an alien zombie infestation, Halloween Harry […]
Action
Hocus Pocus (1994): Apogee’s Prettiest Free Platformer
By 1994, Apogee’s shareware platformer formula was well established: run, jump, shoot, collect. Hocus Pocus took that formula and dressed
Secret Agent (1992): Apogee’s Underrated Spy Platformer
Combine James Bond spy aesthetics with classic Apogee platformer gameplay and you get Secret Agent — a charming, gadget-filled DOS
Prince of Persia (1989): Jordan Mechner’s Rotoscoped Masterclass in Movement
No 1989 platformer moved like Prince of Persia, and honestly, not many since have either. Rotoscoping a game into existence
One Must Fall: 2097 (1994): A Free Fighting Game Built Just for DOS
Fighting games on DOS almost never matched their console counterparts — the genre belonged to arcades and to the Genesis
Jill of the Jungle (1992): Tim Sweeney’s First Game, Free to Play Today
A Different Kind of DOS Protagonist In an era when DOS game protagonists were overwhelmingly male, Jill of the Jungle
Bio Menace (1993): Apogee’s Contra-Flavored Answer to Commander Keen’s Engine
Snake Logan doesn’t get a good day. He crash-lands over a city full of mutants, and Apogee gives him nothing
Hexen: Beyond Heretic (1995) — When a Shooter Studio Decided Puzzles Mattered Too
What happens when a shooter developer decides that backtracking and puzzle-solving matter as much as ammo counts? Raven Software answered
Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold (1993): The Free Spy Shooter Doom Overshadowed
Doom changed everything about first-person shooters the week it launched in December 1993. A few days earlier, a different game
Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure (1992): Apogee’s Gentlest Platformer, Free to Play
Not every great DOS game needs guns or demons. Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure, Apogee’s 1992 side-scrolling platformer, stars a wide-eyed alien
Jazz Jackrabbit (1994): Epic MegaGames Proves DOS Could Do Sonic Speed
Epic MegaGames wanted to prove a PC could out-run a Sega Genesis. Jazz Jackrabbit is the gun-toting green rabbit they
Raptor: Call of the Shadows (1994): Apogee’s Polished Shoot-‘Em-Up
Vertical scrolling shooters were an arcade staple throughout the 80s and early 90s, but DOS never had a huge number